


Someday

by Blink23



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Relationship Discussions, Soft Billy Hargrove, Talking about kids but not actual kidfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 23:04:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20072086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blink23/pseuds/Blink23
Summary: Watching Billy teach Swim 1 & 2 drives the moms of Hawkins into a frenzy.It kinda does the same thing to his boyfriend, too.





	Someday

Steve fundamentally got why women find seeing a man be good with children attractive - biological imperative or whatever - but didn’t really understand it. Kids are loud and messy and he can barely handle Dustin on a good day, let alone a toddler.

Then Billy starts helping out with the Level 1 and 2 swim classes the red cross holds in the pool after close. Which means watching his boyfriend dote on the four year olds who are too afraid to go in the pool, and trying not to do something truly embarrassing.

He knows it’s Jessica Billy’s with today, even from where he’s sitting by concessions waiting for him - can tell because of the dark hair and how she seems smaller than all the other kids - but even without it he thinks he’d know, just because she’s Billy’s favorite. Jessica’s got a single mom, who kicked her shithead dad to the curb and moved back to Indiana from Illinois, and works as a dental hygienist. The classes are all Mommy and Me type things, the same classes Steve’s mom had them signed up for before she grew bored putting on the doting parent routine. The problem is, Jessica’s mom works late two nights a week, and usually one of those days fall into the Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule for Swim 1, so Billy makes up those days by being Jessica’s _swim buddy._

Watching Billy with her is enough to make him melt and those women to suddenly make way, way more sense.

Billy’s sitting at the pool’s edge with his feet dangling in the water while kids splash and yell, the last 15 minutes of their Friday lesson being free play. Jessica’s sitting next to him, clinging to his arm, flinching when they get too close or loud. Most of the moms are gathered up near Steve, gossiping as the kids play, and he smirks as he hears some of them talking about Billy and the not child friendly thoughts they have about him.

Billy says something to her, and she shakes her head, looking at him with big eyes. He says something again, and she thinks about it for a second before she nods, letting him scoop her up into his arms. He slides into the pool easily, and she yelps, clinging tight.

Steve can’t hear him, but he can see his lips working as he treads water with her, even with the water wings on her arms nearly strangling him.

_I got you, nothing’s going to happen, don’t worry…_

“Put your tongue back in your mouth, Harrington,” Heather snaps, sitting down next to his feet on the deck lounger. He rolls his eyes, and tips his sunglasses down onto his nose. 

“At least I’m allowed, unlike some people,” he says, tilting his head in the direction of the pack of Mothers.

Heather smirks at him before she’s off again, yelling at two kids dunking each other.

Billy’s holding Jessica away from him now, as far as his arms can stretch, and then letting her go so she can kick and dog paddle back into his arms, smiling and cheering her on so she doesn’t realize he’s actually walking backwards as she does it.

The housewives are cooing over it.

“Jessie?”

“Mommy!”

Billy smiles, bringing Jessica to the edge of the pool and lifting her out so she can run to her mother standing near the pool’s entrance.

“Walk around the pool, Jess!”

“Yes Ms. Heather!”

Billy pulls himself out to go after her, those soaked red shorts clinging in all the places Steve wants to get his hands and mouth. 

Marky Thompson’s mom looks about ten seconds away from going feral and jumping Billy.

Billy stands with his hands on her shoulders as he talks with her mom, smiling, before he hands her over, but only after a hug. He waves to her as they head towards the locker room, approaching Steve and grabbing at his towel on the next chair over.

“What’re you doing princess?”

“Watching you make half the moms of Hawkins cream themselves.”

Billy pauses from towel drying his hair, feigning confusion, “I thought getting hot and bothered was your job?”

He glances down at his crotch in his cut offs, and Steve scoffs, crossing his arms. Thankfully no one is close enough to really hear.

“You look like dad material out there, babe. Don’t blame me for liking it.”

Billy looks at him oddly before he starts to laugh uncomfortably, “well maybe after dinner we can practice getting you pregnant, pretty boy.”

He throws his towel over Steve’s head, making him squawk about his hair as he swaggers off.

“We’d have to fuck the other way around for me to get pregnant,” Steve mumbles, then gets up and follows Billy to the locker room.

Billy isn’t paying attention. He’s the one that made him rent this stupid movie, but he’s fidgeting and clearly not paying attention that it’s irking Steve. Billy insisted he got to pick out what they rented since he had to make dinner, which is bullshit. He's the one that refused to let Steve help anyway; Steve knows his way around a kitchen okay, has a pretty good set of recipes down, but for whatever reason the grill is a disaster waiting to happen with him. It’s why Billy handles it whenever they get steaks, since steve would burn them and his parents house down. 

That doesn’t mean Steve should be forced to watch Re-Animator. _Again_.

“Okay, why are you being weird?”

Billy refuses to take his eyes off the TV, even though Steve knows the only reason he can follow what’s happening right now is because he’s seen it before. 

“I’m not.”

“You fucking are babe. I paid $4 for this garbage because you insisted and you’re not even paying attention when I know I usually can’t even bribe you with blow jobs to not watch this movie when you rent it.”

“I’m not… dad material.”

Steve blinked at him. “That’s what’s got you weird?”

“I wouldn’t be good at it.”

“That’s a crock of shit, but okay.”

Billy just shook his head. “It’s not-- I’m not meant to- to be soft with kids like that, you know?”

Steve pauses the movie, the screams of zombies not right for this.

“You mean to tell me, with the way you treat those kids - hell, even the way you treat Will and El and Max, even when they piss you off - that you think you wouldn’t be able to love a kid like that? Because I know you would treat any kid that was ours like they were the center of the universe.”

Billy goes quiet, chewing his lip.

”You really think they’d let two guys have a baby?” He says, his voice small.

Steve shrugs, “If you have enough money you can basically make anything happen.”

Billy snorts, but still pulls Steve into his side, “Suppose we’re set to adopt twelve with how big your trust fund is.”

Steve laces their fingers together and nuzzles his head under his chin. 

“...And you’d want to do that with me?”

“Oh my god, Baby,” he says, trying to figure out how to be reassuring without having Billy flip out on him about being patronizing, “I want to do everything with you. I literally don’t know how that's even a question at this point.”

“Gonna make me your wife, Princess?”

The joke falls flat, but Steve takes the bait anyway, knowing Billy needs him to.

“That shit’s never going to be legal,” Steve says, annoyed about it, “But if it was… yeah, I probably would.”

“I don’t know if I could,” he murmurs, like he’s scared to admit it, “I’m… You’d never hurt me, but if I needed to leave- I know you would be great, I know that it wouldn’t be like Neil and my mom, even if I up and left you alone with a baby, but-“

“Hey, stop planning for our break up? Ten years from now we could have six kids and be signing Christmas cards Harrington-Hargrove and you’ll be thinking about being nervous over this shit and laughing.”

Billy kisses the top of his head, quiet. He’s about to ask if he can pop in _Red Dawn_ instead of this garbage before Billy opens his mouth again.

“We’d be Harringtons,” Billy says, firmly, “I’m- there’s no way my kid would get Neil’s name, and I know your dad’s a dick, but he’s not… it wouldn’t feel like the same as having them be given something that was _Neil’s,_ You know? Your dad would at least try. ”

“Okay.”

“And no fucking way would we have six kids,” Billy snorts, “Two, maybe. But probably none.”

“Not just one?” Steve asks, amused.

Steve feels Billy shrug more than he sees it.

“I don’t want them to be lonely.”

Something in Steve’s chest aches.

“Okay. Two, but probably no imaginary children for us,” he says, and Billy laughs.

“Right.”

Billy reaches over Steve to turn the movie back on with the remote.

“You still wanna practice getting pregnant?”

Steve tilts his head up to look at him.

“If you turn this garbage off we can find out.”


End file.
